And here we are, at end of the Flower Kings road, despite there being a new mediocre album in 2023 and a stunning live album from earlier this year. Maybe I’ll return if I get more physical copies, but I admit I’m slightly tired from all the intense listening, and ready to put this series to bed with By Royal Decree, the 2022 album that sees the return of Michael Stolt on bass and the slow departure of Jonas Reingold who plays on a few select tracks here. Other than that the lineup is consistent from Islands, as is the direction: shorter, more concise songs that run about 94 minutes in total. But I think there are nuances to that approach that – for me at least – bear a little more fruit than the previous album. Let’s jump in and discuss it.

Immediately at the start of “The Great Pretender” there’s a sense of foreboding, of a darker album in the works. In interviews and liner notes Roine Stolt mentioned how a lot of By Royal Decree came from his looking at scraps of songs throughout the years that never made it to an album, and how this effort reflected his journey as a writer as well as his middle age self looking back on that journey. As I was riding into work this morning I was listening and realizing the jump here from the last few reviews was almost 20 years – in other words, this is now the work of a man who have lived, you know? Of course it would come across as a more mature work, more reflective.

And it does. The first few tracks, running from “The Great Pretender”, “World Gone Crazy” and “Blinded” also present themselves musically as contemplative and searching, lyrically as looking on a world that no longer seems so familiar. I really like these tracks (maybe “Blinded” a little less than the others), but that sense of adventurous fun is definitely not a key component here. Maybe part of that is Hasse Fröberg taking the lead vocals for the opening tracks – I’ve found his specific songs to be more earnest and inspirational. Stolt’s turn on “Blinded” gets a little frisky, introducing Rob Townsend’s sax work and some extended solos but it’s still mostly a somber affair to kick things off.

That serious vein continues through the softer “A Million Stars” and “Soldier” with the latter driving things more to the land of solid rock. But the earlier prog elements, so up front on earlier albums, are relegated to the solos, and even there we’re hearing some of the crazy ideas the younger Stolt would throw into albums like Stardust We Are with its freaky circus vibes. Maybe it’s the loss of Bodin? “The Darkness In You” is another contemplative track, and six tracks in I’m getting a little fussy waiting for real rock to rear its head. “We Can Make It Work” returns to the Beatles-esque pop Stolt loves, and it’s really not until “Peacock On Parade” that the prog comes back and we start to get a sense of fun. “Revolution” has an extended intro that helps bring By Royal Decree into sharper focus, and is ably assisted by Fröberg taking the vocal lead. It’s also a good showcase for Zach Kamins’s piano work – before this his presence was pretty subdued.

Speaking of the musicians, this might be blasphemous but I’m really good with Michael Stolt back in the Flower King fold? No disrespect to Jonas Reingold at all – his position as Prog Bass God (hereafter abbreviated as PBG) is unassailable, but listening to this and 2023’s Look At You Now it seems obvious the super “look at me!” chops aren’t what Roine is looking for anymore, so I’m to have my Reingold bucket filled with The Tangent and Steve Hackett’s seemingly weekly live albums.

Getting back to By Royal Decree, the album picks up more steam with the short but utterly delightful “Letter” which then leads to the excellent instrumental “Evolution”. Suddenly I’m back in my happy place, hearing musicians bounce off each other and play their hearts out. “Silent Ways” is another stunner, Reingold’s fretless bass leading to an outstanding Fröberg vocal. “Moth” sadly is almost completely forgettable, but “The Big Funk” rights the ship slightly, despite neither being big nor particularly funky.

By the time closing track “Funeral Pyres” ends – on a strong note, I’ll add – I’m left slightly clearer on Stolt’s mindset moving forward (maybe I’ll revisit Look At You Now and see if my opinion there changed), but I’m also ambivalent on where the elder statesmen of modern prog stand now. By Royal Decree feels cohesive as a musical document, but less adventurous and filled with the spritely youth of TFK’s earlier work.

Man…maybe I should check out those middle albums…

FOR THOSE CURIOUS…My ranking of the albums covered in this series:

1. Space Revolver
2. Flower Power
3. Unfold The Future
4. Back In The World of Adventures
5. The Flower King (I’m counting it)
6. Stardust We Are
7. By Royal Decree
8. Islands
9. Retropolis
10. The Rainmaker